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School:Villanova University

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For business and arts students, Entrepreneurship is available as a minor and geared towards teaching students the business fundamentals involved in a starting your own venture. This minor pays special tribute to the significance employers place on intrapreneurial ability regardless of position in the company. These classes encourage Villanovans to think creatively and hone in on entrepreneurial skills such as creativity and innovation even within any organization. Another popular option amongst business and arts students is the '''ICE CaPS '''certificate program for sophomores. This programs lets students meet with mentors, chat with CFOs of start-ups, and collaborate with other students, creating a very hands-on curriculum that enhances their entrepreneurial abilities.

Beyond these for-credit opportunities, there are a number of on extra-curricular displays of student entrepreneurship. Villanova held its second annual '''TEDx''' in the fall of 2013 and it was a great success. A number [[File:VillanovaTedx.png|thumb~~|TEDx Villanova~~]]of short speeches given by students, graduates and faculty members revolving around the theme of “Create, Innovate, Inspire” were astoundingly thought-and-conversation provoking. Between conferences, as is customary with TED events, the inspired audience was able to network and connect.

The '''Villanova Student Entrepreneurship Competition '''provides a more hands-on approach to entrepreneurial education. This student-only competition focused on making the world a better place was founded in 2009 by graduate engineering students Ronald Warzoha and Timothy Montalbano, and it operates with the '''Beyond Ideas: The Art of Entrepreneurship'''group (See Faculty Entrepreneurship). The competition allows students to showcase ideas by pitching them initially on the '''IdeaBounce'''page. This publicizes their idea and shares it with the Villanova network, helping them hunt down any resources necessary to further their idea (and can be done by anyone at any time even outside of the VSEC competition). For further stages of the competition the students pitch their idea, create a video, executive summaries, posters and financial tables to persuade a panel of judges. The top teams walk away with $10,000 total in prizes.

Another prevalent competition is the '''Villanova''' '''Innovation Chase.''' For this competition three teams of engineering students go through a preliminary round at Villanova in which they come up with a solution to a problem- last year it was an on-campus transportation problem. The students work through the process of researching, designing, prototyping and presenting their solutions to a panel of judges. The top two teams that survive this qualifier travel to the annual '''Chicago Innovation Chase''' intercollegiate-student entrepreneurship competition.

A number of these small-team oriented competitions exist on Villanova’s campus (multiple others are mentioned in the University-Industry Collaboration section). Though they allow an incredible, immersive [[File:VillanovaImaginationquest.png|thumb~~|Imagination Quest~~]]experience for their participants, the quantity of students who can be active in them is limited. To mitigate this problem Villanova developed '''Imagination Quest.''' This is an on-campus competition that is open to all students and takes place over 24 hours. Students enter as individuals then form teams. As the name suggests, they are then sent on a “quest” to discover opportunities, develop ideas, designs, and produce a business pitch, all within the 24 hour time limit. Throughout the process, students can present to a judging panel and receive feedback from mentors. This competition lets students explore, imagine, and be creative in a very fast-paced, high energy level environment.

Beyond available courses and competitions, Villanova is also home to student-run clubs such as the '''Villanova Entrepreneurial Society'''. The Entrepreneurial Society works with existing entrepreneurship programs and tries to spread as much information as possible across campus concerning events, opportunities, speakers, etc. A large project they have taken on is the creation of a directory of Villanova community members who are involved in entrepreneurial ventures.

For students who have innovative attitudes but are interested less in the business side of entrepreneurship and more in social entrepreneurship, there are opportunities for this as well. Namely, '''Engineers Without [[File:VillanovaEwb.jpg|thumb~~|Engineers Without Borders in Panama~~]]Borders''' and '''Business Without Borders''' exist primarily as philanthropic organizations which improve the world through innovative and creative action. The Business Without Borders group was created in 2009 and has been working in Nicaragua, Kenya and the Philippines on international development projects. More locally in the Philadelphia area, the students have united with the IRS and nonprofits to help low income people with tax returns. The group is largely inspired by entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie- the founder of the for-profit company TOM’s Shoes that is famous for its non-profit subsidiary and philanthropic initiative. In the past, the group has brought him to campus to speak to students about the potential for uniting profit and social benefit.

Engineers Without Borders has a similar, global initiative. This group travels to various locations and countries to implement sustainable engineering projects. Currently, they are working with the native Embera people in Panama. The Embera village is only accessible by dugout canoe, and the villagers struggle to communicate with others because of unsophisticated electrical systems. Villanovans in the group are working on innovative solutions to bring power to the tribe and improve their communication systems.

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